House Education Panel Holds Oversight Hearing on Learning Loss

On Wednesday, the House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Subcommittee held a hearing, Generational Learning Loss, How Pandemic School Closures Hurt Students. Pointing to recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) score declines, Subcommittee Chair Aaron Bean (R-FL) said “needless” pandemic-related school closures caused a generation of learning loss in just two years, and “the mass shuttering of schools throughout the pandemic is one of the greatest education policy failures in our nation’s history.” His proposed solution was to “decentralize” education decisions by providing parents with school choice. Ranking Member Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) countered that school closures were a matter of safety for teachers and students and that the historical underfunding of schools has resulted in lagging student outcomes that long predate the pandemic. Majority witnesses Dr. Nat Malkus, American Enterprise Institute, Mr. Darrell Bradford, 50CAN, and Ms. Catherine Truitt, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, discussed the downfalls of school closures, affirming Chair Bean. Ms. Mary-Patricia Wray, a parent from Baton Rouge, LA, elevated the points of the Minority and pointed specifically to a child with disabilities within her son’s friend group who was at high risk of severe illness or death if he contracted COVID. The hearing demonstrated the deep fissures between Republicans and Democrats on the causes of and solutions to learning loss.

To view the hearing, go here.